Differential expression of the retinoblastoma gene family members in choroidal melanoma: Prognostic significance

We evaluated 55 samples of choroidal melanoma managed by enucleation. Knowi ng that the immunohistochemical expression of the retinoblastoma gene famil y members Rb/p105, p107, and pRb2/p130 was inversely correlated with the de gree of malignancy in at least some histological types, we investigated the expression of these three proteins in choroidal melanoma. We focused on th e relationship between patient survival and the immunohistochemical detecti on of the retinoblastoma proteins. No correlation with clinical outcome was found for Rb/p105 and p107. However, we found pRb2/p130 to be an independe nt prognostic factor correlating positively or directly with patient surviv al times and indirectly or inversely with the degree of malignancy. Demonst ration of the prognostic value of the immunohistochemical expression of pRb 2/p130 is of significance, even if additional studies are required to confi rm these data and to compare the prognostic value of pRb2/p130 immunodetect ion to that of other recently proposed markers, such as p53.